What's New ?

TubePad 6.0 Beta release: Now Available!
I have finished the basics of TubePad 6.0, and am posting
it as a Zip file from the TubePad page. For those who are
using the older browsers (pre I.E.4) i am keeping TubePad 5.0
up as well. There had been a delay in posting this zip file
to my site because of the fairly large size. Seems that
this server just didn't like it, so i found a doner site
(one of the sites i develop and manage) and was able to place
the file there. So the link you see on the TubePad page is
indeed active, just not to my site ( for those who like to
right click web pages to read the HTML. Hey, i encourage
that practice, best way to learn the art and mystery of
web-weaving!)

The Beta version has still needs some updating, for instance
i plan to add VR tubes to the "Short List", and more schematics
to the "Schematics" links. Apart from that, and the possibility
of adding another calculator, she's pretty well done.

As usual, there are those who for some reason or other cannot
download these programs. Let me offer some advice:

These are not executable files. All they are are image and html
files, similar to what you would find on a web page. When they
are downloaded, i recommend the use of WinZip 8.0 to unzip them.
You can download WinZip's evaluation version at their site. These
are not self executing zip files, although some have suggested i
make them so. I chose not to from my own experiences with them.
If all fails, and your on-board unzipper just won't unzip them,
contact me. I can, for a small charge (primarily the cost of
production) provide you with a CD in two different formats, the
mini or standard CD. Burning, handling, 2 cups of coffee, and
shipping would come to 5 bucks U.S. Obviously, i am not in this
for the money.
Feel free to Contact Me.

More Changes on this site!

A Vector version of TubePad is on the Horizon!I have had a number
of hobbyists who happen to work with CAD programmes tell me that they would
use TubePad . . . but it is incompatible with their vector programmes, and
the scalability of vector images is of great value in their work, both at
the office, and at home. Since TubePad is entirely bitmapped, naturally
scaling is problematic. So your's truly went out and got hold of a vector
application (FreeHand, specifically) and spent the last half year or so
learning how to do some basic things on it. The result is a complete library
of vector schematic symbols. I am developing another set, the "RSGB"
Radio Society of Great Britain's older schematic symbols used in their
publications in the 50s and 60s, which is currently available in .bmp in
TubePad. Soon, Shortwave Craft symbols of the 1930s will also be available in
vector.

Also, i plan to make available scalable dial faces, a sample of which is
posted on the TubePad page, both in encapsulated
post script and Adobe Acrobat (.eps and .pdf). This will be another
continuous work in progress. The culmination of this will result in a new
version of TubePad: 7.0.

Scalable Dial Faces: these are vector designed, as such one needs to have
a vector application to manipulate them. The .pdf version can be viewed and
printed from Adobe Acrobat. Eps can be manipulated by Corel Draw, Quark,
and other systems. Simply download the file, and she's all yours. You
might have to ungroup the components of the dial to change, for example,
the number fonts, or do whatever changes you may want. Naturally, you can
scale it to whatever size you need. If you have Adobe Illustrator, and find
the .eps does not convert well, let me know, i will post a third file in
that format, too.

A Tube "Short-List": This is one of the TubePad 6.0 features which
i decided to release on my site in beta form. It is set up similarly as
the rest of my site, with the scrolling nav. bar containing the tube designations.
Each tube is a link to an info page which is shown in the main window. The
pages are fairly packed with appropriate information as i could find it
in the various source materials i have on hand. Note that while there are
over 12,000 different varieties of tubes, i have endeavoured only to treat
the tubes which are: 1- Consistently used in simple radio projects through
the years, 2- Not hard to find or order, 3- Not exotic. In our hobby we
usually do not utilise even 5 percent of the varieties available.
Now, having said that, know that the Tube Info page is constantly in a
state of updating, and i will be adding more tubes, and also putting
the ones i have listed (about 120 types) in alphabetical order!
Note that the tubes are grouped according to their types: Diode, Triode,
Tet/Pentodes, Visual Indicators (yet to be added), Multigrid or multi-element
tubes, and Voltage Regulator tubes.